Human Resources Mock Policy Memo: Inclusive and Anti-oppressive policies - Assignment Example

Human Resources Mock Policy Memo: Inclusive and Anti-oppressive policies PART I Esteemed members, this policy memo will summarize for your managerial concerns the findings of the Human Resource policy review of your organization conducted by our consultancy agency as well as related suggestions for future strategic objectives. The main focus of this memo is on the need and merits for adopting more inclusive and explicitly anti-oppressive practices within the Human resources manifesto and the use of information technology resources to achieve the necessary changes in employee policies. Inclusive and Anti-oppressive Practices On a social level, anti-oppressive practices are a set of actions that are being taken on different levels to address the existing biases and inequalities that are embedded in the culture, heritage and structure of the society itself. The people affected by these biases are unable to participate in society to their full potential and are also denied the opportunities afforded to the dominant groups. Historically, biases have existed on the basis of prominent differences between the majority group and the ‘others’. Gender, sexual orientation, race, economic status, language ability, religion preference, age and ability can all be factors which can be used to unfairly isolate and exclude a group or an individual. But with increasing awareness and call for human rights, public and private groups are making the required efforts to address these disparities. Using an integrated model of anti-oppression practices, communities are getting together to built new systems of society that are more inclusive, accepting and equitable. Upholding the ideas of basic human rights for everyone and rewarding merit equitably, these systems allow everyone to share the benefits and opportunities present. One very important pre-requisite of building such models is to understand the different ways that people may experience oppression and marginalization and then create practices to directly counter these in justices. It is a complex task that requires education, empathy and a conscious decision to address the issues. It is made harder by the fact that oppression can be subtle in it how it affects the marginalized groups and policies that may sound effective on paper may not address the core problems. The main challenge is to protect the traditionally marginalized communities and stakeholders not just from illegal and unethical exclusions but also from the ideas of submission and persecution existing in our traditional hierarchies. Diversity work, in the society or within any organization, has to address the underlying, often implicit, issues of power and privileged that favor one majority group at the expense of all others. Even as the faces of biases and oppression change, the power dynamics victimize another group. Race issues have been adequately answered in the public and private spheres in the past few decades due to corrective legal and administrative policies but people with different sexual identities, religious preferences or disabilities still have to face prejudice in the workplace. Oppression does not need to be highly visible to take effect. It can occur any time when one group (or groups) attempts to use economic, social or psychological power to suppress the rights of another group in order to maintain their superiority in the hierarchy. While the world takes notice of overt examples of oppression that are conducted on a nationwide scale or involve physical harm, covert examples of oppression are the ones that mainly exist in the civilized world and these go ignored unless specifically addressed. In the workplace, oppression could simply be favoring one employee over another for a basic responsibility just because that person belongs to a majority group that the supervisor identifies with. Practices like this go on to hurt the opportunities and potentials of minority groups and may also hurt the organization as competent employees are suppressed. Diversity management is refers to not only accepting but utilizing the uniqueness of the employees working in an organization. Diversity in itself is a broad term covering not only the commonly understood characteristics like race, religion etc but also some more common demographical features as well, such as family status; language; educational background; literacy level; geographic location; income level; cultural tradition; and work experience. The basic principle of inclusion involves the recognition that society is heterogeneous and these differences can contribute towards an enriched workplace, and community. To introduce a practical and effective inclusion and anti-oppression policy in the workplace, an organization will need to have a strategic stance that recognizes that not all people have access to equal opportunities regarding services, jobs and positions of leadership due to limiting societal, economical factors and not because of their own personal deficits. The process to introduce adequate minority protection and inclusion policies will need the active and substantial involvement of the people who actually represent diverse groups n the workplace; as they can better guide the management about the kind of support they require to function as productive members of the work force. Benefits and potential drawbacks of implementing such Policies By promoting the rights of and ensuring equal participation for minority groups within the organization the company can gain a number of strategic advantages. While the main concern is to meet the ethical rights of the individuals, these benefits will be discussed in a purely business context: A diverse and empowered workforce is a motivated workforce which can bring in innovative ideas and create a robust work environment. Human Resource Management is one of the sources of competitive advantage for any firm; providing a safe and comfortable environment for disadvantaged groups can potentially allow the company access to a greater pool of eligible candidates and employees and foster a culture that will reward performance over any other non-contributory factors. With the increasing concern for equal opportunity employment from the public and the consumers, a company that shows sincere commitment towards upholding related policies can gain a good reputation in the market which will translate into increased consumer loyalty. While this is not a guarantee; strategic marketing of the HR policies will definitely increase awareness about the company’s code of ethics and how it will affect employees and consumers. The main benefit, which is also the primary motivating factor, behind the adoption of inclusive and anti-oppressive programs is the compliance with legal standards in city, state and federal laws. The company and individual managers/executives can be held liable if any employee feels his rights have been violated based on illegal discrimination regarding hiring, promotions, career opportunities etc. These lawsuits can greatly hurt the company financially as well as regards to their reputation and the easiest way to avoid accidently triggering such a situation is to have a concrete anti-oppression policy in place to guide employees about their ethical conduct regarding their coworkers and subordinates. But like any other management decision, it is also prudent to discuss any potential downsides of implementing such a policy. The main concern for any management is the limit to which these policies should protect and advocate the minority or the maligned groups. It has been observed in many cases that organizational cultures are highly resistant to change and any new policies which threaten to disrupt the usual way of ‘doing things’ tends to receive high criticism from current employees. Some challenges that may arise are as follows: The employees belonging to the traditional majority group might raise a point that they are being unfairly treated in order to provide more options to the other employees. While a well defined policy which explains the need for such practices which is communicated effectively to the employees can help to curb such uneducated protests, there may still be hostility from the people who feel threatened by the change and the increased sense of competition under the purely meritocratic system. While it must be emphasized that the long term benefits of implementing inclusive policies are guaranteed, the transition period can be tough to manage. The management will need to stand by their polices until they are accepted completely by the workforce and the HR will need to play a decisive role in bringing about this major change. Another challenge that is often takes managers and human resource executives by surprise, is the resistance shown from the very people whose rights these policies are designed to protect and promote. The hostility may arise when the minority groups feel as though the policies are patronizing, and designed to just look good on paper but without having any substantial impact. Another issue could be of the perception behind ‘care versus control’- the increased responsibility of the management towards employees could signal a further imbalance between the people who will be affected by these policies and the people who have actually designed and implemented them. Employees already working within the current structure may feel offended that the company is offering them extra support, even effective policies are designed to affect the whole organization, culture and future employees and not just focus on the few employees who are currently ‘different’. To avoid such sentiments the management has to be very clear about the purpose of introducing these practices which is about working with the maligned groups to include them in the creation of a more unbiased and equitable workplace. Input from the employees should be taken from the very start of the process as it would open up communication channels and let the management know about the specific requirements for support that is needed. The planning and implementation process will require use of financial resources as well as time. Consultants or legal experts may need to be hired to guide the company and the HR department about developing the code of conduct, code of ethics and anti-oppressive polices. Regular training and review meetings will also need to be scheduled for the policies to be brought into practice; furthermore the process will need to be monitored and a certain budget set aside for future training, consultancy and complaints procedures. All organizations may not have the necessary capacity to provide the resources for all these different steps. These issues have to be carefully considered before the organization can start the process of implementing inclusive and anti-oppressive practices in the workplace. However, the key points to remember are the emphasis on communication and making it a participative process which carefully considers the insights and suggestion the employees may have. Implementing the Policies Given that this organization is relatively young and growing, it is not expected that the employees would be resistant to a change in the hierarchical power structures and the preliminary research showed that the employees are enthusiastic about the introduction of formal policies protecting the rights of minorities in the work place. However, this doesn’t mean that the management will not have to be careful about the planning and communication of the practices. Some of the following suggestions can help the management in developing a robust and practical Anti-oppressive policy: Seek expert advice with regards to legal compliance and ethical propriety Encourage participation from all employees in the process, including setting up a formal feedback mechanism Focus on cultural development as much as on the development of formal policies Management should advocate the new polices through different mediums Communication channels should be open and varied Management needs to make a financial commitment to the process to invest in training, anti-oppression and diversity orientation, evaluation of the programs etc. Ensure that the policies are reflected in all the necessary HR functions, including, but not limited to: recruitment, selection, hiring, on-boarding/employee orientation, training, development, promotion, retention (employee benefits such as tuition reimbursement, wellness, accommodation), and working conditions/corporate culture. The management has to a strike a balance between excessive ‘political correctness’ and patronage of the minority groups and complete rejecting the reality of the challenges these groups face. As well as creating an accommodating and equal opportunity environment, diversity work should be accompanied by an emphasis on a performance driven culture, where performance and skills are the only differentiating factors for the career progression employees. Utilizing information Technology and the Internet: The second part of this memo is related of the use of Information Technology (IT) in Human resources and how the internet can be used as a resource for the policy planning and implementation. One of the main advantages of the internet is its communication and information gathering abilities, both of which can prove invaluable for use by HR executives. Intranets have been used by the bigger organizations from as far as the late 70’s as they provide an effective and efficient mode of communication between workers and the management. While IT can streamline many operations and has been used to modernize different departments like sales, marketing, finance etc through the use of specific softwares such as Customer Resource Management (CRM) and Automated accounting and finance packages, the use of IT in Human resources has mainly been relegated to data documentation and clerical work instead of being utilized as a support for strategic human resource management. However, as more innovations are taking place in the resources available for management functions, it is prudent for the company to consider some of these tools during the implementation of these culture impacting policies. Human Resource Management Systems have become much more accessible through the introduction of Workflow tools and the Internet. Now the average employee can easily enter and retrieve data from the corporate HR systems as well use them to communicate with others in the work place. Enhanced security systems have allowed Human Resource Management systems to have multiple input and output points that streamline data management and integration with Enterprise Resource Planning Systems of legacy intranet systems means that the employee portals can be used as effective communication points. Potential uses for Policy implementation: Management should consider using the internet and its various tools for creating a more cohesive and effective human services policy community which is easier for monitoring and maintaining. Cross cultural and Diversity Research; the initial planning stage can use the various guides available online to start the process towards eliminating exiting biases and challenges for minority groups. The internet can also be a tool to reach out to diverse communities and organizations to get their input regarding anti-oppression practices and actual support needed by the communities as well as communication guidelines. Communication; the employee portal should be the gathering point for all relevant resource materials, announcements, schedules and feedback regarding the implementation of the policies. Employees should have ready access to the written policies as well as the explanations behind this management step. Webinars, research papers and guidelines for everyday routine work can also be made available here. This will automatically create an online trail to map the effectiveness of communication plans. Documentation; HR software packages can be used to keep a track of all financial and operational activities concerned with the implementation. Communication with the employees and any anti-oppression complaints or incident reports should also be digitally recorded. Training; while in person training is the most popular option for change management, basic instructions about the new policies and creating an inclusive and equitable culture can also be done via the internet using tools such as video conferencing or group chats. Monitoring effectiveness of the policies; the inclusion policies should ideally impact and increase work place diversity as well as the number of minority employees who are taking advantage of extra opportunities like training or mentorship. The HR can monitor these activities through their database. Concluding Remarks The organization has made a good start with the recruiting and selection policies that are favoring a diverse work group. However, the consultancy advice would be to ensure that a robust Anti-oppression policy is incorporated within the culture as soon as possible to provide the framework for future employment strategies of the company. We would further suggest that the company that the company should do another in house research to get the compliance and suggestion of their employees and attempt to incorporate information technology in the implementation of the processes. PART II What learning from this section would you most like to discuss with your fellow students? During the research for this Mock Policy Memo, as well during our course discussions the concept that has struck me the most has the idea behind covert and overt forms of oppression. Donna Baines discusses in her book how interacting routinely with disadvantaged clients (2007) can open up your eyes towards the level of discrimination they face in their daily lives. Some of these biases are so well hidden that we would never even notice them unless they actually share their experiences with us. Even then, recognition is just the first step towards solving such a legacy issue. The systems of our society are definitely designed against the minority groups, excluding them from equal opportunity. Even attempts by organizations to address these issues fail because they cannot clearly understand the implicit power dynamics at work (McKenzie and Wharf, 2010) leading to frustration of all parties involved. I believe that before any organizational polices can be planned and implemented, it is important to understand the societal structures and sentiments. Only through communication with the disadvantaged groups can we really start to develop support systems that they feel comfortable with and which hare effective in righting the balance of power. Thankfully, organizations are moving away from the explicit kind of oppression that used to exist at one time but the implicit forms of exclusion still exist and policies have to be made that can attempot to correct them (Baines, 2007). References Baines, D. (Ed.). 2007. Doing anti-oppressive practice: Building transformative politicized social work. Halifax, NS: Fernwood. McKenzie, B., & Wharf, B., (2010). Connecting policy with practice in the human services, 3rd ed.. Don Mills, ON: Oxford University Press Read More